Editor, The Beacon:
SunRail is coming to DeLand, and now is not the time to shortchange those of us who are being forced to pay for it.
The DeLand SunRail station will be a gateway into DeLand and beyond and should reflect who we are as a community.
When visiting the DeBary SunRail station, you will find landscaping that would provide criminals places to hide, no restrooms for waiting passengers, and awnings that would provide little shelter during inclement windy weather.
If we wish for the DeLand SunRail station to be a success, much more thought should be put into the design.
There should be adequate restroom facilities, shelters that will protect waiting passengers from inclement windy weather, landscaping designed with the safety and security of the users in mind, security cameras in all areas of the facility, license-plate readers at all entrances and exits, bright lighting, and rules in place to discourage vagrancy.
In addition, in order to maximize the use of the DeLand SunRail station and facility, the station should be connected to the current trail system, and it should be designed as a trailhead, as well.
We need our county’s government leaders to take the lead by bringing all of the stakeholders together in a public forum that is held during the evening hours, to discuss the design of the DeLand station and our overall public-transportation needs.
The citizens deserve to be a part of the process and the discussion, and they deserve to have a safe, secure, comfortable and user-friendly DeLand SunRail station.
Keith L. Chester
DeLand
I absolutely agree. Quality of public transportation and regard to people who take it in general is incredibly lacking here. Along N/S Volusia Ave for example, there are countless bus stops with no sidewalks, let alone covered bus stops. When the designs for public transportation is so hostile, of course people won’t want to take them. I hope that in the future DeLand considers people in the design of the stop, and not just make it a large parking lot.
I absolutely agree. The quality of public transportation and regard to people who take it in general is incredibly lacking here. Along N/S Volusia Ave for example, there are countless bus stops with no sidewalks, let alone covered bus stops. When the designs for public transportation is so hostile, of course people won’t want to take them. I hope that in the future DeLand considers people in the design of the stop, and not just make it a large parking lot.